Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa (16 page)

“A couple of
days later, the heroes arrived.  I remember because I was in the throne room. 
They burst in.  They were so fast.”

Alyssa
swallowed.  “It was so...brutal.  They killed anyone who got in their way, with
magic swords and fireballs.  He stepped forward to fight them.  I watched them
kill him.  Watched the others change back.  I thought it was all over, thought
I was free.  Then I must have fainted, I just blacked out.  Next minute I know
I'm lying in a coffin in a warehouse near the docks.”

Alyssa screwed up
her face.  “That...wasn't fun.  I never did find out how I got there but I got
out right and quick.  I had a note with me.  It just said 'You're the last'.”

“The last
vampire.” said Victoria.

Alyssa nodded.

“As far as I can
tell anyway.  I've not met any others.”

Neither have
I,
thought
Victoria.

“Some of the
things he or his lieutenants taught me before they killed him.” her tone had
changed, speaking the word
killed
with more venom than Victoria had
expected.

“Avoiding
sunlight, drinking blood, my aura.”

Aura?

The girl seemed
to read Victoria's expression of confusion.

“You know...the
bad feeling you get around me.”

Victoria had
forgotten the feeling of dread she experienced around Alyssa.  Probably because
at first she had been at her mercy and then she just started to feel sorry for
the girl.  But come to think of it the feeling of revulsion was still there. 
Like a pressure at the back of her mind.

“You feel it
don't you?” asked Alyssa, her mournful face betraying a certain hope that the
answer would be no.

“Yes.” Victoria
said plainly.  No use in lying

Alyssa nodded
solemnly, sighing.  “Figures.”

“Since then.”
Alyssa continued.  “I've just been sort of existing.”

Timidly she
fixed her glasses again.  She hugged herself, face cast down.

Victoria saw her
chance.

I need to ask
some straight questions

“Did you kill
the fat drunk?”

“No!” Alyssa
looked up immediately.  Her little face seemed horrified by the very idea. 
“I've never killed anyone.  Honest!”

“What about when
you're...” she pointed to Alyssa's jaw, not believing the girl could even do
that.  With her teeth. 

Yuck
.

“Oh no.” Alyssa
shook her head vigorously.  “I just drink enough to survive, I never drain
anyone.  I wasn't going to drain you either!”

“So you've drunk
before?”

“I have to.”
Alyssa's said in a regretful tone, “To stay alive, or exist, or whatever you
want to call it.  I drink from, well, bad people.”

She gave a
little smile, attempting reassurance.  Victoria looked back with a neutral
expression and Alyssa cast her eyes down again as she continued to speak.

Interesting
knowing that the look works on vampires as well as humans

Victoria took a
certain satisfaction in that.      

“Muggers,
thieves, even murderers and crime bosses.”  said Alyssa as she explained.  “I
normally go for them when they're asleep, or unconscious.  I drink enough to
keep me going, but not enough to kill.  I figured, if they're weak, well, they
won't be able to be as bad.”

You had to
admire the child-like logic.

“A public
service?” ventured Victoria

Alyssa smiled, a
proper smile this time as she met Victoria's gaze.

“Yes.  I try. 
I'm not really that good at it though”

There was
silence for a few moments.

“What will they
do to me?” Alyssa asked.

It was
Victoria's turn to be lost for words.

“I don't know.”
She managed, as she looked away.  “Prison probably.”

Victoria heard
the girl swallow.  A nervous gulp from a creature that was supposed to have the
strength of ten men if archives were to be believed.

“I don't think
I'd be very good in prison.”

Based on looks
alone, Victoria had to agree.  Alyssa was far too nice, far too shy and far too
beautiful for prison.  She'd be eaten alive.  That or she'd do the complete
opposite.  You could never underestimate the cornered rat syndrome.  Not that
the girl looked anything like a rat.  Victoria knew a pretty face when she saw
one.  Studying the girl now, Victoria noticed something very unusual about
Alyssa's body.  Something not right about her silhouette in the half moon
light.

“Alyssa?” She
questioned.

“Yes?”

“What are those
in your back?”

Alyssa reached
behind her.

“Oh”

Victoria watched
as Alyssa's hand found the protruding flights of three closely grouped crossbow
bolts in her lower back. 

She cast
Victoria an embarrassed look.  Victoria almost returned the look. 

Should have
noticed them earlier!

“Sorry.  I
didn't know I'd been shot.”

S
he didn't
even feel them?  No wonder we couldn't stop her!

She had assumed
Malak had just missed or even winged the girl.  Instead he'd been as accurate
as his reputation suggested; in any other situation it would have been a good
kill.

“Erm” Alyssa
began, a little unsure.  “What should I do?  I mean, should I take them out?”

“I think so.” said
Victoria though she was unsure herself.  Just how...how did that work?  How the
hell was the girl not dead or at the very least, bleeding?  In fact, how were
the bolts embedded in her?  Surely the damn things were armour piercing?

“I can help”
said a voice.

Victoria spun on
her heel as she stood, her pistol drawn in a flash.  Her weapon found itself
aimed at Katy, the little girl with the cutesy pigtails.

How the hell?

Katy's eyes went
wide.

“I'm sorry!” she
said hurriedly, taking a step out of her hiding spot by the end of the
alleyway, eyes regarding the pistol barrel with deep concern.  “I...I didn't mean
to listen in!”

“Katy” breathed
Alyssa before covering her mouth.  “Oh please Katy.” Her tears started again.

Katy looked from
gun to Alyssa and back again.  Tense moments passed and then, completely
ignoring the gun, Katy rather brazenly rushed over to Alyssa and hugged her
tightly.  Victoria saw Alyssa's expression over Katy's shoulder.  Victoria and
Alyssa exchanged confused expressions.  Victoria lowered her pistol as Katy
spoke.

“I'm sorry,” she
began, releasing Alyssa looking to Victoria.  “I followed you from the tavern. 
I saw you running off after Alyssa.  I wanted to stop you.”

That was
impressive considering neither Malak nor the Darnhun had managed to track her,
or stop her.

The youngster
is full of surprises.

“I know you're a
good person.” Katy said next, turning back and taking the other girl by the
shoulders.  There was great conviction in her voice.

“I just know
it.”

She looked back
to Victoria again, an intensity filling the young girl's eyes.

“I know she's
telling the truth.  She didn't kill that man and she doesn't want to remain a
vampire.”

Victoria
holstered her weapon but her expression was one of resignation.

“I know but...”
Victoria ran her hands through her hair.  “Vampires.  They're classified 'clear
and present danger to peace.'”

She lifted her
head, casting Katy a look that brokered no argument.

“I'm duty-bound
to bring her in.”

Despite this
look (it normally worked) Katy still questioned.

“Can't you just
look the other way?” She suggested.  Victoria favoured her with a pitying
glance. 

Stubborn
little mite aren't you?

“Youngster.”
Victoria said.  “It doesn't work that way with the Council of Peace.  We don't
ever just look the other way.”

“Why not?” Katy
took a step forward, balling her fists.  Victoria almost thought the girl was
going to take a swing for her.  “She's not a bad person.  She's not going to
start another war.”

“Yes but,”
Victoria shook her head

Why the hell
am I even justifying myself to the likes of you?

Victoria
hardened herself.

“It's not my
call to make, I have my orders.”

Alyssa was
looking on, in mute shook.  Her expression indicated she really couldn't
believe what was happening either.

“It
is
your call.” Katy said.  Her face still looked very determined, even though the
flickers of uncertainly now clouded her words.  “You can pretend you never
found us.”

Victoria
chuckled.  “Pretend?”  She looked away again, shaking her head.

“Well what would
you do if I was to let you go?” she said, crossing her arms.  Her eyes found
Katy again “Where would you go?”

“To find someone
who can change Alyssa back.”

Victoria and
Alyssa both frowned.

“What?” they
said in an odd kind of unison.

Katy looked from
one to another, stopping on Alyssa.

“You want to
change back to human right?” she said

“Well, yes
but...”

“Well, we find
someone or something that can change you back.”

Alyssa shrugged,
arms out.

“Katy  I...” she
began.  “I've tried.  There isn't any way.”

She lowered her
head.  Victoria could see the glint of tears again.

“I'm stuck this
way.”

Katy approached
Alyssa again and put her hand on her shoulder.  With her other hand, she gently
cupped Alyssa's jaw and brought her head up so that the two of them were eye to
eye.  To Victoria's mind, it was a very commanding gesture and Alyssa certainly
looked shocked by it.

“No you're not.”
stated Katy.  Victoria had to admit, she was impressed with the young girl’s
resolve, not to mention her tracking skills.  She wondered what bloodline had
bred this. 

She'd make a
good investigator in later life.  Well, if circumstances were different that
is.

“We will change
you back.  There's a place in the Great Library.  My dad's a librarian there.”

Victoria frowned
and noticed Alyssa's eyes changing, becoming hopeful again.

“He says there's
lots of books about magic and magical creatures down in the basement.  There's
bound to be one on vampires.  We can find a way.”

Alyssa's face
ran with tears again.  Behind her eyes, Victoria could see something being
kindled.  A hope, she suspected.

“Oh Katy.”
Alyssa embraced her friend “Oh Gods please let you be right.”

Katy hugged her
back, before turning her eyes toward Victoria in triumph.  Victoria rolled her
eyes.

“Oh here we go.”
Victoria muttered.

“Please.” Katy
begged.

Victoria looked
from one girl to the other.

“Don't ask me to
do this.” said Victoria, hands on her hips, looking away so as not to have to
meet the two pairs of eyes.  It wasn't that she was scared, or even unsure. 
Well, maybe a little unsure.  But damned if she was going to wreck her career
for these two.  She hardly knew either of them and no matter how sincere the
request; it was madness!

“We've got a
chance.” said Katy, taking another step toward Victoria.  She'd the puppy dog
look on, augmented by the blond pigtails and pink ribbons; Victoria was used to
it.  You didn't spend that long in the company of the Larrick City Militia
without learning a great deal about the mournful puppy dog look.  She had long
hardened herself against its influence.

“I can't.”
Victoria concluded.

Wonder how
much of a bitch that makes me?

“There might be
another way.” said Alyssa.  Victoria looked past Katy as Alyssa stepped forward
now.  She put a hand on Katy's shoulder, turning the other girl to face her,
whilst her other hand went to her glasses.  Making sure they were secure.

Victoria's
hearing just about picked up what Alyssa whispered to Katy.

“Hold on to me. 
This might be a bit weird.”

Katy complied,
wrapping her arms around Alyssa as Victoria looked on.

Hold on a
moment.

Victoria had her
pistol aimed again

“What are
you...”

She never got to
finish.  

With a sound of
bursting fabric, two huge over-sized bat wings suddenly erupted from Alyssa's
back, bursting forth in a rain of obliterated fabric.  The wings were massive,
filling the alleyway, almost too big to be contained.  Black grey bat wings,
twice as tall as a man, stretched wide on six taloned fingers.